As I told you above, the declaration of war was handed over to an
Austrian major for transmission to Count Stancowick, the Austrian
governor of Mantua, on the evening of the 19th, by Colonel Bariola,
sous-chef of the general staff, who was accompanied by the Duke Luigi
of Sant' Arpino, the husband of the amiable widow of Lord Burghersh.
The duke is the eldest son of Prince San Teodoro, one of the wealthiest
noblemen of Naples. In spite of his high position and of his family
ties, the Duke of Sant' Arpino, who is well known in London fashionable
society, entered as a volunteer in the Italian army, and was appointed
orderly officer to General Lamarmora. The choice of such a gentleman for
the mission I am speaking of was apparently made with intention, in order
to show the Austrians, that the Neapolitan nobility is as much interested
in the national movement as the middle and lower classes of the Kingdom,
once so fearfully misruled by the Bourbons. The Duke of Sant' Arpino is
not the only Neapolitan nobleman who has enlisted in the Italian army
since the war with Austria broke out. In order to show you the
importance which must be given to this pronunciamiento of the Neapolitan
noblemen, allow me to give you here a short list of the names of those of
them who have enlisted as private soldiers in the cavalry regiments of
the regular army: The Duke of Policastro; the Count of Savignano Guevara,
the eldest son of the Duke of Bovino; the Duke d'Ozia d'Angri, who had
emigrated in 1860, and returned to Naples six months ago; Marquis
Rivadebro Serra; Marquis Pisicelli, whose family had left Naples in 1860
out of devotion to Francis II.; two Carraciolos, of the historical family
from which sprung the unfortunate Neapolitan admiral of this name, whose
head Lord Nelson would have done better not to have sacrificed to the
cruelty of Queen Caroline; Prince Carini, the representative of an
illustrious family of Sicily, a nephew of the Marquis del Vasto; and
Pescara, a descendant of that great general of Charles V., to whom the
proud Francis I. of France was obliged to surrender and give up his sword
at the battle of Pavia. Besides these Neapolitan noblemen who have
enlisted of late as privates, the Italian army now encamped on the banks
of the Po and of the Mincio may boast of two Colonnas, a prince of Somma,
two Barons Renzi, an Acquaviva, of the Duke of Atri, two Capece, two
Princes Buttera, etc. To return to the mission of Colonel Bariola and
the Duke of Sant' Arpino, I will add some details which were told me this
morning by a gentleman who left Cremona yesterday evening, and who had
them from a reliable source. The messenger of General Lamarmora had been
directed to proceed from Cremona to the small village of Le Grazie,
which, on the line of the Mincio, marks the Austrian and Italian
frontier.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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